Coronado High band instructor Alan Combs refers to them as his “top three trumpet players.” Now, they're also the top three in the All-State Jazz Band. Selected on
the basis of recorded audition music, Miles Roth, Ian Martinez and Scott Von Thun were selected recently as first, second and third chair, respectively, for the group
of 20 musicians from high schools around Colorado.

Tom Vaupel (left), Scott Von Thun, Ian Martinez and Miles Roth are Coronado High's selections for the All-State Jazz Band. Roth and
Martinez, with Von Thun as alternate, also made the All-State Band.

Westside Pioneer photo

Another Coronado musician, Tom Vaupel, is the group's only drummer. Hayden Farr, a baritone saxophone player, is an alternate.
Roth and Martinez also led the way in selections to the 110-member All-State Band, with Von Thun making it as an alternate. Roth has the added honor of being
chosen to the All-State Band's four-member “first trumpet section,” Combs said. Live auditions are used for All-State, the music director added.
He did not know how many students auditioned for All-State Jazz Band, but according to Roth, Coronado had the most selected of any school. For All-State,
Combs had these numbers: 872 total auditions from 145 schools.
The All-State Jazz Band will perform Jan. 30 at the Broadmoor, while the All-State Band is scheduled for April 10 at the Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley.
To some extent, Roth is following in his father's footsteps - his dad Greg having been a performing musician who specialized in cornet and guitar. Miles used his dad's
cornet through seventh grade, and he's a guitarist in a four-piece rock band that includes Vaupel on drums. In an interview this week, he said he'd like to be a
professional performer himself, and is narrowing down his college choices.
Vaupel, a senior, is also pointing toward a musical career, planning to major in musical performance at UNC Greeley. He'd started on trombone in fifth grade, then
switched to drums in seventh. He still plays trombone, but “I found drumming was my thing,” he said.
Martinez, also a senior, expects to be a classmate of Vaupel's at Greeley, with a major of music education. He's been playing trumpet since fifth grade. Although he's
tried different instruments, “I kept going back to the trumpet,” he said.
For Von Thun, a junior, “music has always been a side thing for me.” With the highest grade level in his class, his goal is to become an aerospace engineer. He's
actually attending Coronado by choice - he came from Jenkins Middle School while the other three All-Staters came from Holmes - largely because it has a second
year of calculus. But he doesn't plan to drop music. “I'll definitely keep playing,” he said.